×
Retirement and forum shutdown (17 Jan 2022)

Hi,

John Howell who has managed the forum for years is getting on and wishes to retire from the role of managing it.
Over the years, he has managed the forum through good days and bad days and he has always been fair.
He has managed to bring his passion for fish keeping to the forum and keep it going for so long.

I wish to thank John for his hard work in keeping the forum going.

With John wishing to "retire" from the role of managing the forum and the forum receiving very little traffic, I think we must agree that forum has come to a natural conclusion and it's time to put it to rest.

I am proposing that the forum be made read-only from March 2022 onwards and that no new users or content be created. The website is still registered for several more years, so the content will still be accessible but no new topics or replies will be allowed.

If there is interest from the ITFS or other fish keeping clubs, we may redirect traffic to them or to a Facebook group but will not actively manage it.

I'd like to thank everyone over the years who helped with forum, posted a reply, started a new topic, ask a question and helped a newbie in fish keeping. And thank you to the sponsors who helped us along the away. Hopefully it made the hobby stronger.

I'd especially like to thank John Howell and Valerie Rousseau for all of their contributions, without them the forum would have never been has successful.

Thank you
Darragh Sherwin

Electric help needed.

More
10 Feb 2017 19:17 #1 by Jonlate (Jon Late)
Hi again, me back again and needing help!!

So recently I brought a aquaone aquafill topup. On the box it looks great and looks like it should do the job.

However..... I have my sump connected to the back of the tank. Thinking I could put the topup below the tank and it would pump the water into the tank, I set everything up, only to find the head height of the pump is 50cm and my tank from floor to rim is about 1.75 meters.

In other words this product is rubbish, and unless your sump is on the same level as the top up it won't work.

So does anyone have any ideas on how to improve this?

At the moment it has a 12volt 3.5 watt AC pump, coming out of the control box. Any other AC pump doesn't have the head high that I need for my tank.

So can I retro fit a DC pump to this, but still use the controller box? What sort of converter do I need to do this? Will a converter stop the control box recognising it?

Any ideas, anyone?

If not it will have to go back to the shop.

Thanks

Please Log in to join the conversation.

More
10 Feb 2017 20:29 #2 by robert (robert carter)
Personnally i would just return it . I would think that the control unit wouldnt be suitable to power a bigger pump and could possibly overheat . I have an auto top up system on my cold water sump but the top up tank is at the same level as the sump . It is one with the sensor system instead of the float switch system and works great

Please Log in to join the conversation.

More
13 Feb 2017 21:28 #3 by bart (Bart Korfanty)
You should be able to replace the pump with one of those

www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-Ultra-quiet-Mini-DC...9:g:TM8AAOSwLa9UYYGz

The most important thing here is what amperage can the power unit on the main controller handle. The pump in the link is rated at 400 mili-ampere(mA) or 0.4 ampere (A) with max 2m lift.

If there is any description sticker at the back of the device, post it here. Should give me better idea.

Please Log in to join the conversation.

More
14 Feb 2017 14:32 #4 by Jonlate (Jon Late)
Thanks Bart. That's the sort of pump I was looking at, it's just the pump that comes with the unit us a 12volt, AC, 3.5 watt pump.

As I am changing the pump from AC to a DC that's one problem.

The other problem is the original pump has a round electric connector feeding into the controller. If I change to another pump, how do I rewire this? And still make the controller recognise it as the original pump?

Thanks for your help.

Please Log in to join the conversation.

More
14 Feb 2017 22:19 - 14 Feb 2017 22:40 #5 by bart (Bart Korfanty)
You need converter like this one AC-DC

www.ebay.com/itm/AC-DC-to-5V-15V-Rectifi...qqH2OsiHfH-9g93rU7Aw

It will allow you to connect DC pump

Rewiring shouldn't be a problem. You just need to find same size generic connector as on your pump.
This chart should help

img.weiku.com/waterpicture/2011/10/22/20...92233678324064_4.jpg

The one marked 12v from drop down choice menu

Wire it to AC side of converter from first link (doesn't matter which wire to which connection point)
This than connects to controller

And new DC pump connects to DC end of converter from first link. Usually red wire to + (plus or sometimes marked as VCC) and black wire to - (minus or sometimes marked as GROUND)

I think the controller is not sophisticated enough to recognize what is connected to it. It just switches the pump socket on and off in relation to the position of float switches

Of course tinkering like this will void the warranty. As for safety, this is all low voltage so you should be fine.
Last edit: 14 Feb 2017 22:40 by bart (Bart Korfanty).

Please Log in to join the conversation.

More
14 Feb 2017 22:29 - 14 Feb 2017 22:41 #6 by bart (Bart Korfanty)
By the way, majority of top up containers are located on same or close enough level to the sump.
You have very specific need there (to lift the water significantly up to main tank) that hardly any of the top up systems accommodates for, at least low end ones.

The hose from the pump to main tank needs 'no return valve', otherwise when the pump stops the water will be sucked back down to top up container.
Last edit: 14 Feb 2017 22:41 by bart (Bart Korfanty).

Please Log in to join the conversation.

More
15 Feb 2017 15:16 #7 by Jonlate (Jon Late)
Thanks for that Bart. I will order the bits and see what happens.

If not I may have to think about building my own, from one of the kits from china.

I know that most sumps are below the tank and the main pump circulates the water, but with so many behind the tank sump combos being made now, I think this topup will need addressing soon.

Otherwise people will be putting 3 litres of fresh water into their marine tank and causing a salinity swing and then when corals die, blame everyone else.

I will let you know how things get on.

Please Log in to join the conversation.

More
15 Feb 2017 17:42 #8 by bart (Bart Korfanty)
I actually recently build DIY top up contraption that allows connecting mains powered pump. The voltage in the system is still 12v DC. Implementing relay made possible to connect any powerful 220V AC pump. The parts were probably below 10€.

Please Log in to join the conversation.

Time to create page: 0.060 seconds
Powered by Kunena Forum